


Starlight

by Amarxlen



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen, Mentioned Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Moving, New Friends, SoKai Destined Oath Zine, Sokai, Sora - Freeform, kairi - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28921851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amarxlen/pseuds/Amarxlen
Summary: Surprised by her parents with a move across the country, Kairi is hurt and resentful until she spends a night under the starlight with a new friend… who may just become something more.
Relationships: Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), SoKai - Relationship
Kudos: 10





	Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the free _[SoKai server zine, Destined Oath Vol. 2](https://gumroad.com/l/SKDO2)_

_Starlight_

_by Amarxlen  
  
_

In all the plans for her summer vacation, Kairi had never included “moving across the country” on her heart shaped bullet pointed list. But one day she’d come home from school, two weeks away from sunshine and beaches and freedom, and found the realtor’s sign, thrust into her front lawn and no amount of whining, cajoling, or bargaining had changed her parents’ minds. She had screamed, cried, and ranted about it to her best friends, but in the end, she packed her belongings into boxes and a single suitcase that until then had only been used for vacations. 

She was staring at it now, seams stretched tight against the bulk of the clothes inside of it, and remembering how she’d needed to convince Riku to sit on it for her while Xion snickered at the both of them from her perch on Kairi’s mattress. The mattress would be one of the last things to be packed up. At least she hadn’t had to sleep on the floor before leaving the only home she’d ever known. 

Kairi handled most things gracefully — losing her two front teeth right before picture day, the fight with Xion that had lasted a week (over what, she still didn’t know), and letting Riku down gently when he confessed he had a crush on her — but this… this was like the world was caving in around her.

Neither Riku nor Xion had known what to say, and there had been far too many awkward pauses the night before. The morning had been filled with more awkward pauses and goodbyes, and promises to keep in touch, though it all felt cliched. Kairi toed at the spot on her carpet where Xion had accidentally spilled nail polish a few years ago. No more sleepovers, no more passing notes in class, no more sneaking out for one of Xion’s late night shenanigans. It was goodbye to all of it, a whole chapter in her life, and she wasn’t ready for any of it.

Eventually though, she knew it was time to go. She gave the nail polish stain one last kick before standing and joining her parents in the car. The drive was silent, though not for her parents’ lack of trying. Normally, Kairi enjoyed all the road trip games, but this time she stuffed her earbuds in and turned her music up loud enough to drown out any noise and then some. She knew her attitude wouldn’t change anything, it just felt a little bit better to make her displeasure known.

She watched the world pass by her window, familiar sights there and gone in a flash. The park where she and Riku played as kids, the coffee shop she and Xion frequented, gossiping back and forth. The street that led to their school, shaded by trees. All of it passed by in a blur until all at once they pulled onto the highway and nothing was familiar and the journey was suddenly inescapably real. 

Kairi sank down into her seat a little more, fist clenching around her music player as she bit her lip in an attempt not to cry. She wished the drive would last forever. She wished that it was over already. She wished that this wasn’t happening at all. But it was, and despite her resistance she knew she just had to accept it.

They drove until the sun began to go down before stopping for food and sleep, and then piling back into the car to do it all again. When they finally pulled into their new town, she found it wasn’t so different from the one they’d left. Trees, restaurants, shops, a park, but none of it was familiar, and the air blowing through the rolled down window even smelled different in a way she couldn’t pinpoint. Part of her wanted desperately to hate it.

But she couldn’t. 

It was charming in a seaside town sort of way — something she had never experienced before. Despite her resentment, her interest was piqued and she tried to be discrete about the way her eyes scanned everything they passed. People filled the streets, casually passing their afternoons in each other’s company. As Kairi and her family drove by, a head of particularly spiky hair caught her attention, but before she could look any closer it was gone again. 

Settling into their new house and unpacking was less painful than she’d expected, helped along by Xion convincing Riku to send Kairi goofy photos of the two of them. Kairi giggled at her phone and selected her favorites to be printed out later when they’d completely unpacked. Maybe having her best friends’ smiling faces around her would help make this move a little more bearable.

“Kairi.” She looked up at her dad standing in the doorway, and the familiar way he did it in this unfamiliar place made her heart ache. “Your mom and I decided to go to an event my work is having.”

“An event?” Kairi echoed.

“You’re welcome to come, if you like.”

The word ‘no’ was on the tip of her tongue, but got stuck at the last moment. Her dad looked tired, sagging and uncertain against the frame of her door. For the first time since she’d gotten the news, she thought about how her parents felt about the move. Was their cheerful act just that, an act? The thought was sobering and made her feel guilty about how she’d acted.

Instead of saying no, Kairi gave him a small smile. “Sure, dad.”

He returned her smile — still tired — and said, “We’ll leave in half an hour.”

Kairi kept her smile up even as he turned his back and walked away. It only fell once she looked around her still bare room and into her open suitcase. Whatever this event was, it had to be better than moping alone in her room, right?

* * *

The event was both better and worse than she had thought it would be. It was better because strangers, her dad’s new coworkers, kept striking up conversations and pulling her from her thoughts. It was worse for the same reason. As the latest coworker walked away, she didn’t know how much more of this she could take. She busied herself with getting a drink that she didn’t touch, and was considering hiding in the bathroom for the rest of the night when she saw someone approach her from the corner of her eye.

She looked up, prepared for yet another adult to ask and say the same patronizing things. “How are you liking it?” “It must be difficult.” “You’ll adjust soon.” “I’m sure you’ll love it here!” Repeating these sentiments and her own answers was the last thing she wanted. 

Instead she was met by a boy who appeared to be her age, with spiky brown hair and a wide, sincere smile.

It was unmistakably the boy she’d seen on the street earlier that day. 

“You got dragged here too, huh?”

Kairi blinked, stunned by the coincidence and taken aback by the question. It was the second unexpected thing she’d encountered that night. For a moment, she couldn’t think of what to say, but the boy’s smile never wavered, patiently waiting for her to find her tongue.

“Uh, not exactly,” she answered. “We just moved here,” she continued, when the weight of his blue-eyed gaze lingered and he didn’t say anything in reply. “And I didn’t really have anything else to do.”

“Moving’s tough,” the boy offered, lacing his hands behind his head. “My family, we’ve moved… Let’s see.” He began counting on his fingers and listing off places. “There was Destiny Islands, Daybreak Town, Traverse Town, Twilight Town… I guess we didn’t technically move _there_ ,” he said thoughtfully, looking down at his hand. Then his smile was back as he met her eyes again. “But it was fun, too.”

“Fun?” Kairi asked, mind reeling at the thought of living in so many places. “But… what about your friends?”

“Pen pals,” he chimed. “If we don’t forget each other, we’ll stay part of each other’s hearts no matter what.”

Kairi bit her lip, worrying at the rim of her plastic cup. She thought of Riku and Xion, and she knew they’d never forget each other, but could it really be as easy as this boy made it sound? His easy honesty was disarming. It made it easier for her to ask her next question.

“How did you make so many friends?”

His grin widened. “Like this,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’m Sora.”

She hesitated for only a brief moment before taking his hand, and the smile that crossed her lips was the first real smile she’d given all night. His hand was warm in hers, the palm lightly callused. 

“Hi Sora. I’m Kairi.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Kairi.” Their hands dropped and he looked around the room, his eyes landing on the door. “Do you want to get out of here?” Before she had time to be offended, he continued. “I can show you around. I’m sure once you see the town more, you’ll love it here.”

Kairi wasn’t sure if it was the plethora of emotions from the move or something else that made her finally say, “Okay.”

Leaving the event was easier than she had thought it would be. Sora made sure to introduce himself to her parents, and then had gone on to tell his own that they were leaving. If she’d had any misgivings about leaving with him before, they were whisked away by his transparency. Her parents had smiled, unable to hide the relief in their faces that it seemed she was adjusting alright after all. And then it seemed all at once they were leaving. The night air was cool as they walked down the sidewalk, wind whispering through the trees that lined the street.

Sora spoke animatedly, pointing out this building and that, explaining to her more about the people who lived in, worked at, and owned them than she knew she would ever remember, but somehow… it was nice. He didn’t expect her to chime in at all, didn’t chide her for being a downer. He didn’t look at her with pity or false sympathy. He just talked, and any time she chimed in, he beamed at her, that same sincere smile he’d greeted her with.

As they walked, her eyes wandered, picking out a few familiar sights from earlier that day. She didn’t notice that Sora had stopped talking until she nearly collided with his chest. Startled, she stumbled back, Sora’s hand darting forward and gripping her wrist before she could fall. Kairi looked up at him and felt her cheeks warm. 

“Sora?”

“I was just thinking,” he said, grinning sheepishly and letting go of her hand to ruffle the back of his hair. “Do you want to go to the beach?”

“At night?”

The sheepishness dropped as he answered, “It’s the best place to see the stars.”

* * *

Kairi found the beach to be exactly the same as the beaches back home — sand, water, and an endless sky. True to his word, the stars were more visible from here than any other part of the town. As Kairi listened to Sora name the stars, she thought about her friends back home, and how the sky wouldn’t begin to darken there for another couple of hours. She sighed deeply, tensing a bit when the noise drew Sora’s attention. 

“Y’know…” he began after a moment. “A friend of mine used to tell me about how each and every star is a different world.”

Kairi looked up at him sharply, breath hitching. Sora either didn’t notice, or was pretending he didn’t notice. Whichever one it was, she was grateful for. In this particular moment she just wanted to hear this familiar story from unfamiliar lips. He was still staring up at the sky as he continued. 

“They say that all these worlds used to be one and everybody lived together peacefully.” His voice was wistful, his expression complicated. “Then darkness found its way into their hearts. People fought, and it seemed like the world would be destroyed.” 

It occurred to Kairi that this was an awfully intense story to be telling to someone he had just met, but hearing the story she knew by heart was oddly comforting. Everything was changing, but she already had a sense that Sora was one of the best friends a person could have. 

“But it wasn’t,” she chimed in quietly. Sora met her eyes, and though her cheeks flushed, she didn’t look away. 

“It wasn’t,” he agreed.

“Because of the light in children’s hearts.”

“The darkness _did_ swallow everything, except that light.”

“And the children used the light to rebuild the world, but now they’re all separated from each other,” Kairi finished. 

“Just like the stars.” Sora paused, and this time when he smiled at her, it was softer, but no less bright or sincere for its softness. “I’ve never met anybody else who knows that story.”

Kairi pulled her eyes away from him, looking out at the water. The tide had already come in, but she could still see lumps of sandcastles from the day’s visitors. Children, she thought, with light in their hearts. She pulled her legs close to her chest. 

“My grandma used to tell it to me,” she murmured into her knees. 

“Did she stay back home?” Sora asked. 

The simple question and the word _home_ created a lump in her throat. When he said it, it almost felt like she could reach out and touch it. Kairi shook her head and swallowed roughly. 

“She died a few years ago.” 

Despite the time that had passed, Kairi felt the absence of her grandmother more than ever. Would she have let them move away? Would Kairi have been able to stay with her instead?

A gentle touch on her shoulder made her look back up. 

“I’m sorry,” Sora said. The way he said it was so easy; it didn’t have frills or useless explanations, it just was. He said he was sorry, and he meant it, and nothing else needed to be added. 

Kairi held his gaze for a long while before glancing away. Gentle waves still lapped the shore, and sparse clouds had moved in to overlap the stars when they weren’t looking. 

“Why did you come talk to me tonight?”

Sora didn’t answer right away, instead looking up at the stars and letting his hand drop from her shoulder. 

“You looked sad.”

The words hung between them, awkward and heavy. Kairi wasn’t sure how she felt about being so easy to read, and yet the entire night Sora had been nothing but transparent with her. If there was one thing she could be sure of, it was that Sora was a genuinely kind person, in a way she’d never seen before, and was willing to bet she never would again. Kind enough that she’d followed him through town with no questions asked to sit on a beach where the damp sand was seeping through her pants. She couldn’t bring herself to admit that he was right, but something told her she didn’t have to. 

Instead she said, “Hey Sora?”

“Yeah?”

She smiled slightly, and with it she felt any lingering tension lift. Kairi turned her smile on him, placing her hand on his where it rested on the sand. 

“We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

Sora’s answering smile shone brighter than any of the stars she’d seen that night. 

“Yeah! Of course we are,” he said, squeezing her hand in return. 

Kairi hadn’t realized that she was worried about what he would say until he smiled at her. Now, she had the sense that everything would be okay. After a moment’s hesitation, she rested her head on his shoulder.

The past few weeks had been full of so many changes—uprooting her life in a way she’d never thought possible. Leaving Riku and Xion behind had been one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do and the prospect of somehow creating a life in this new town had seemed dubious at best. She hadn’t even wanted to give it much consideration, if she were being honest with herself. But thanks to Sora, now she found that creating a new life here didn’t seem as impossible as it had before. 

Sora wouldn’t fill the hole in her heart that had been created by leaving her old life, but she knew for certain that he would cradle it, and gently ease any ache that was there. 

Because that’s what friends did. 


End file.
